Various Artists
Surf Monsters
[Del-Fi]
Rating: 6.3
Coming straight to you from the overstuffed vaults of Del-Fi records-- yet
another surf comp to whet your lickety places by! And, to look at the bands
that pop up here, Surf Monsters may prove to be 20 tracks of sweetest,
most frenetic surf. Yay.
Surf Monsters opens on the right foot-- it kicks off with Man or
Astroman's "Floatation Devices for Frequencies Yet to Be Detected" before
jumping headfirst into the distortion-heavy organ twang of "Planet of the
Apehangers." It doesn't take long before you're made fully aware that
Surf Monsters is no ordinary Del-Fi comp, but a combination of "old"
and "new" Surf artists, from new kids Huevos Rancheros and the Sub-Mersians
to old-skool tracks from the Impacts and the Lively Ones. It's a jam-packed
surf-comp, oh yes.
From start to finish, Surf Monsters delivers exactly what you'd expect:
surf. However, an added bonus lies in the combination of old and new artists.
Because even though surf hasn't changed that drastically over the years,
a few of these tracks stand out. Barbacoa's "Northern Spy," with its
schizophrenic horns and relatively mellow tempo, fits well following the
frenetic pace of the Sentinels' "Exotic." Similarly, the tropical sounds of
the Tiki Tones' "The Island of Lost Soul" is a vivid reminder of how
production value has touched this genre.
Add familiar sounds like Dave Meyers and the Surftones' "Moment of Truth," the
Centurions "Bullwinkle (Part II)" and the Lively Ones' take on Dick Dale's
classic "Miserlou," and you've got a better comp than most-- one met not with
yawns and general disdain, but with the twitching of extremities and sudden
gaseous expulsions. I'd say it's better than most comps of the genre, and with
20 tracks spanning 19 artists, it ain't too stingy, either. Both a good intro
to the genre and worthy of the attention of surf aficionados. That's about the
range of its appeal, though.
-James P. Wisdom